Well I made the lamb. I marinated it in olive oil, garlic, and rosemary. Then I cooked just one chop to test the cooking time for medium. 4 minutes a side. On a plate with potato salad from Trader Joe's. I added the cayenne pepper and dried dill weed.

Went and grabbed some more beef ribs. Lamb is just stupid expensive, like shockingly too much. I couldn't do it.

And, I didn't want to be that guy that took pictures of meat.

And I asked what kind of cut they call this, but the kid was clueless. I asked English cut, cut in half? He said I don't know, it's up to the butcher at the moment and they should be about the same size, he said. I said they've been this way for a long time. Well I don't know sir (hate when people call me sir). So I said thanks and left.

Got some stewing (brewing) in red wine and tomato paste and rosemary on the stove.

Thanks for checking, Sir. .

Yes. I take pictures of meat, and wine, and salads. "Stop! It's him again!"

Pulled brisket sandwich. I don't have a smoker, and I didn't want to braise it in soup, so what I do is brown it first on a pan with some bacon, then put them on a sheet of aluminum foil and pour a bit of mesquite BBQ sauce over the meat; then I fold it over them like empanada, sealing the two ends, then another layer of foil over it. I then put this in my charcoal grill to bake (and effectively steam in its own juices plus the sauce) for three hours over hot coal (plus an hour making the most of the residual heat). I then shredded it and added some Jack Daniel's BBQ sauce all over the meat.

For the sandwich, I slice a ciabatta in half, put cheese and tomatoes on one side and the meat on the other, then put them in the toaster until the cheese melts and the tomatoes are slightly roasted. The ones below are on pan de sal, or what basically are Philippine breakfast rolls - soft, powdery, milky-taste, usually slider-sized bread to go with anything from corned beef to spam and scrambled eggs. I had the brisket for breakfast just for kicks.

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Another pan-roasted, $2 rib eye steak. I was too lazy to fire up my grill, since it takes only 45secs on each side to get it close to medium rare, then I turn it and cook the sides in the melted butter. I take it off the pan and lower the heat on the stove, then slice it immediately, leaving a sliver of meat on one side so I don't end up stir-frying it like teppanyaki. I then collect all the juices and add them to freshly melted butter on the pan, then I put the steak back into the hot butter and juices just to warm the rare meat (you can see it's still a bit red but it's hot).

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Salmon burger - local grocery flakes and makes patties out of salmon that hasn't been sold that's getting too flaky and makes burgers out of them (cheaper than buying the salmon really fresh then making the burgers myself). I caramelized some onions in hot butter and oil, then seared the burgers in the same pan and finishing them off in a toaster topped with cheese. I then layered lettuce and cucumber on the bottom bread and then the salmon over that, then put onions over the melted cheese on the salmon. I then smeared some mayo-mustard sauce on the top bread.

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My apologies for the varying image qualities, many of these were by my cam phone and some by my E-P2 at ISO800 and f4.0.

I see you are in Manila.
Found this indoor smoker (need an outdoor vented hood fan) at a liquidation outlet up here for $45.00 Can. that was a good deal.
Here is a promo vid showing a smoked salmon but it does all the other meats with it's high dome, indoors with wood chips.

After seeing the lamb and beef these past pages, thoughts of the various sandwich cuisines that are available up here in Toronto came to mind.

We have Donar (Halifax Donair), Gyros, Shawarma, Tacos El Pastor...are these food variations available in the Philippines?Edited by 5aces - 7/15/13 at 10:07am

I missed out on that food truck last year; we basically thought we should go over to Ike's instead, since huge sandwiches seemed to better cap off my trip there. We could have had it on the next meal, but my Dad insisted on eating at Ma Mon Luk (a popular chain of Fil-Chinese restos that opened in Daly City a few years ago), and after watching a concert downtown with some friends, they dragged me to the rice toppings place right next to Ma Mon Luk, also a Fil-Chinese chain of restos. Man, 3AM breakfast of deep-fried pork belly and a sunny side up perked me right up before I crashed in my hotel room.

BTW, if you can cook sisig at home (even if you get it prepped and only need to stir-fry it), try making garlic fried rice in the same pan/wok you cooked the sisig in. Just scrape off any of the sisig that's stuck to the pan, if any, orif it's a non-stick pan, just don't be too neat when you remove the cooked sisig; pour a little bit of oil if the pan's too dry and brown some garlic in it, then add steamed (brown) rice a little at a time, mixing as you go. Keep this up until the rice is loose; you can serve it in individual bowls with the sisig as topping.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5aces

I see you are in Manila.
Found this indoor smoker (need an outdoor vented hood fan) at a liquidation outlet up here for $45.00 Can. that was a good deal.
Here is a promo vid showing a smoked salmon but it does all the other meats with it's high dome, indoors with wood chips.

Wow, that's neat! Will look into bringing one home next time I fly over to the US and Canada (which hopefully would be April to May 2015). Ace Hardware started bringing in Charbroil stuff over here and at basically the same prices they'd go for at Lowe's and Home Depot, but I'm refraining from buying large stuff because I might move out of Manila by next year, depending on what university gives me a teaching (and more importantly, research) job.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5aces

After seeing the lamb and beef these past pages, thoughts of the various sandwich cuisines that are available up here in Toronto came to mind.

We have Donar (Halifax Donair), Gyros, Shawarma, Tacos El Pastor...are these food variations available in the Philippines?

We have those but mostly Shawarma. We have a lot of Iranians here and they're really the ones who popularized this style (some Spanish and Greek restos had it on the menu but not displayed outside the kitchen). Back when I was in college, although our "bars" are actually all bistros where people would get empacho and get plastered simultaneously, we'd still end up at Mister Kabab to munch on, well, Kababs, as well as Shawarma and Ox Brain (guess what my favorite part of the Avengers movie is). The more authentic gyros and al pastor are usually in food fairs; even quality chain restos tend to have them in the kitchen and may not necessarily be in the same upright position in a dedicated oven (some "cheat" using a standard rotisserie turned up hotter then turned down once cooked).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eee Pee

Good looking stuff ProtegeManiac! Right up my alley! But sauce on the brisket!? Boo.

The Philippines would be missing out on some good stuff if they don't have those. Mmm, tacos.

What's wrong with sauce on Brisket? It's basically the usual recipe for pulled pork using Boston Butt (shoulder), but I substitute brisket because I really just prefer the texture and flavor of beef. Except, of course, when you deep-fry the pig.

I do have a "sauceless" Brisket sandwich, but I braise as large a block of brisket (for pulled brisket to cook faster I use 1"x1"x10" strips) as I can fit in my cast iron oven using a broth with curry, five spice, nutmeg, cinnamon, cumin, and star anise.. Takes about two hours or a bit less with the heat at 150deg C, then I just use up the residual heat. Construction is basically the same, except I use more lettuce; if I have some pastrami I usually add a layer of that too. For dressing, I just use French's mustard spiked with Sriracha or Tabasco green.